Labour Court upholds ruling in 'quiet quitting' case

Procedural flaws not enough to save man 'too old to learn'

- By Setumo Stone

Former Msunduzi Local Municipality's internal audit manager Rajendra Govender insists that his fight for justice is still alive even after the Labour Court in Durban granted him a R134000 consolation prize earlier this year for procedural flaws in his axing, but the dismissal stuck.

Govender, a former airport manager before turning internal audit manager at the Pietermaritzburg-based municipality, says he has spent years fighting to clear his name after being dismissed in 2015.

His story is one of professional turmoil, personal struggle, and a legal battle that culminated in a Labour Court ruling in March this year, upholding his dismissal. While the court acknowledged procedural flaws in his termination, it ultimately agreed with the arbitrator's decision that the dismissal was substantively fair.

Speaking to Sunday World this week, Govender still disagrees and has since appealed.

"Not a shred of evidence was presented by the municipality to support the claim that I had absconded... The burden of proof was on them, and they never proved it.

"My constitutional right was broken. I was charged with one thing, but convicted of another. That is a constitutional breach of my rights."